Erika J. Boyd always loved her mom’s macaroni and cheese. She remembers, at the age of 5 or 6, how she wanted to duplicate it, and was determined to do so.

“I tried to make her mac and cheese in the microwave,” Boyd said. “I had all her ingredients ready, noodles and all and put them in a bowl. Then I put foil over it.”

Naturally, the foil cover was a disaster.

Boyd, now 42, and her life partner Kirsten Ussery, 37, owns Detroit Vegan Soul on Agnes Street in Detroit’s historic West Village. Boyd is the executive chef and Ussery is the general manager. The couple began the business as a catering service in 2012, and, in 2013, opened the 34-seat all-vegan restaurant.

When she was growing up, Boyd said she was no stranger to the kitchen thanks to her mother, Jeanette Girty, and her late-maternal grandmother, Doretha Hall.

Girty, 61, of Detroit was a food service manager in the ’80s for the City of Detroit. Girty developed and put together food programs at senior facilities that provided an activity and lunch meal.

“I would tag along with her to work. I got to know the kitchen staffs at those locations and often could partake in what they were making,” Boyd said.

Boyd’s grandmother also influenced her food career.

“She was a well-known cook around the city of Detroit and cooked for a lot of ministers and some politicians ate at her house. I would shadow her, too,” Boyd said.

Girty said teaching her daughter about food and cooking was “an important part of survival skills and adulthood.”

“I taught her about why you need vegetables, why you have a protein,” Girty said. “We also talked presentation.”

Ussery credits the entrepreneurial spirit of her mother, Irene Peagram, with prompting her to go into business.

“She worked in the textile mills in North Carolina,” Ussery said. “She bought her own machine, a toe seamer, got contracts and started doing her own work. She created her own opportunity and business for herself.”

Years later, Pegram, 58, started baking on the side and in 1999, she started baking for a living. She did all the baking for Detroit Vegan Soul and shipped from North Carolina. Just last year, Pegram moved north to Michigan and is now the baker for Detroit Vegan Soul.

“Kirsten has always been a go-getter,” Pegram said. “I was somewhat shocked that she choose the restaurant business because originally she was in PR.”

Now, Boyd and Ussery are inspiring their mothers to adopt a vegan lifestyle. Pegram became completely vegan four years ago. And Girty is more than 60% there, with a 100% vegan goal by year’s end.

In a large bowl, whisk together cornmeal, flour, flaxmeal, baking powder and sea salt. Stir in the melted margarine, agave and almond milk until smooth. Using an ice cream scoop, divide batter into prepared muffin pan.